Priorities for Progress: Shaping a Better Future for Caregivers and Communities
Our mission is to unite the strength of all caregivers, to create a better life for ourselves and those we care for, and to lead the way to a more just and equitable world. We are not a group of people who lets the world happen to us. We take the time to think about where we are, where we want to go, and the work it takes to get there. We set goals. We build plans. We are unafraid to make changes. We fight and make the seemingly impossible possible.
Our Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals reflect our plans for the future and how we set our priorities. Our goals are:
- Make Caregiving a Good Career
- Win Universal Access to Quality Health and Long-Term Care
- Fight for Justice for All
- Build Power for Caregivers and All Workers
Our 2025 Legislative Agenda details what we need to win together during Washington’s Legislative Session to ensure that caregiving in Washington is a good career, provides high-quality care to our seniors and people with disabilities, that all workers are able to join together to make change, and that our communities are places of justice and equity.
Our 2025 Legislative Priorities are:
- Fully fund the 2025-2027 Home Care Rate to ensure fair wages and benefits for caregivers
- Streamline the background check process with the “Let Us Work” legislation (HB 1395 | SB 5531)
- Fund the Essential Worker Healthcare Program to provide affordable healthcare for Nursing Home workers (SB 5344 | HB 1523)
- Strengthen our WA Cares public Long-Term Care Benefits (SB 5291 | HB 1415)
- Paying Parents of Kids Living with Developmental Disabilities (SB5211 | HB 1200)
- Rebalance our tax code to fund critical services and make the wealthy pay their fair share
- Rent Stabilization, Affordable Housing and Tenant Protections (HB 1217 | SB 5222)
- Expand the Working Families Tax Credit to include young adults (18-24) and Seniors over 65 (HB 1214)
- Fairness in Unemployment Benefits (SB 5041 & SB 5026 | HB 1773)
- Police accountability to enhance community safety and trust
- Climate justice including energy assistance for people in need
- Raise the state minimum wage to $25/hour and guarantee paid vacation and bereavement leave for all workers (SB 5578 | HB 1764)

Fully Fund 2025 – 2027 Home Care Rate
Caregivers are the backbone of our healthcare system, providing essential and compassionate care to seniors and people with disabilities. Yet, due to inflation, our paychecks don’t stretch as far as they did in 2020, leaving too many caregivers across Washington facing economic instability. At the same time, clients and families are experiencing growing shortages and delays in care. Caregivers deserve living wages and benefits that keep up with the cost of living. Fully funding the 2025-2027 Home Care Rate is a critical step to address these challenges by:
- Increasing caregivers’ starting wage to roughly $23.70. While we proposed restoring wages to 2020 purchasing power, the State’s significant budget challenges resulted in settling for 50% restoration.
- Improving healthcare coverage by allowing caregivers to maintain affordable healthcare that covers dependents if they temporarily drop below 80 hours. Without this improvement, 25% of caregivers each year will continue to lose their healthcare due to client hospitalization, client death, or other loss of hours.
- Enhancing benefits with modest increases in employer contribution to retirement benefits, a few additional holidays, and a small increase in mileage reimbursement.
- Funding for parity across Medicaid home care agencies and a critical increase to the administrative rate for the CDE and Agency Providers.
Streamline the background check process with the “Let Us Work” legislation with a technical update to ensure a strong program for Washingtonians in need
HB 1395 | SB 5531
Caregivers in Washington State face significant challenges because of the current background check process. The overwhelming administrative hurdles often result in caregivers losing wages and benefits and prevent qualified caregivers from starting or continuing to provide paid care. Minor issues, such as littering charge or a name change, require a caregiver to undergo Character, Competency and Suitability (CC&S) reviews, causing delays in caregivers getting back to providing paid care. Fingerprinting requirements can further delay a caregiver’s ability to work, leading to lost wages and benefits, and impacting client care for months. The Let Us Work legislation offers a solution that would reduce backlog and streamline the process by:
- Standardizing and clarifying requirements for fingerprint background checks: Standardization would be more efficient, save the State money, and reduce the immense challenges created by these requirements, especially for rural caregivers who have to drive long distances to offices that often close without warning due to staffing shortages.
- Eliminating repeat and burdensome character, competence, and suitability (CCS) reviews for these caregivers:
- Caregivers who already completed the review during their previous background check conducted by the same employer.
- Caregivers who have completed a certificate of restoration, and for background check results that are non-automatically disqualifying, are not violent, theft or financial exploitation felonies, are more than 10 years old, and are not considered necessary for a CCS review by DSHS.
Fund the Essential Worker Healthcare Program – Affordable Healthcare for Nursing Home workers
SB 5344 | HB 1523
Nursing Home Workers deserve affordable high-quality healthcare, but the current system leaves many workers uninsured or afraid to utilize their healthcare insurance due to costs. Employers in this industry are not able to offer high-quality insurance, and the existing public safety net programs in place often fail to reach these workers.
Funding the Essential Worker Healthcare program for Nursing Home workers would increase funding for high-road employers dedicated to the creation of a high-quality and affordable healthcare plan by adding an opt-in supplemental payment to Nursing Home Medicaid provider rate that draws down a federal match.
Strengthen our WA Cares public Long-Term Care Benefits
SB 5291 | HB 1415
WA Cares is very important for us and our families. Most of us will end up needing some long-term care support with daily tasks such as bathing, eating, and transportation in our lifetime, but almost no one is financially prepared for this reality. The voters protected WA Cares on the ballot in November, and the Legislature should continue to strengthen the program by adopting the LTSS Commission’s recommendations to the legislature, including:
- Provide everyone who has a lifetime exemption with a one-time limited opportunity to opt-back in and join WA Cares
- Create the statutory framework for a private long-term care insurance product that is supplemental to the WA Cares Fund
- Clarify and simplify lifetime vesting requirement to a “total of 10 years”
- Pass a constitutional amendment to allow a better return on investment for the WA Cares Fund
- Additional Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Commission recommendations to the legislature
- More details about WA Cares and these proposals are available at WeCareforWACares.org
Paying Parents of Kids Living with Developmental Disabilities
SB 5211 | HB 1200
Currently, Washington permits parents to be employed caregivers for their children with disabilities only after they turn 18. Parents of minors who provide the same level of care are not eligible, creating an inequitable situation. As a result, 41% of children’s personal care hours go unspent annually due to a shortage of eligible caregivers. This year, the legislature should correct this glaring injustice by allowing parents of Medicaid eligible children under the age 18 to be paid caregivers.
The proposed policy would:
- Include all hours worked by parent providers under Home and Community-Based Service waivers
- Apply the same training, oversight, and requirements to parent providers of minor children as those of adult children
- Extend employment eligibility to parents of minors, as is done for parents of adults
- Utilize allocated funds effectively—1.4 million care hours go unspent each year
- Recognize parents as the most knowledgeable and safest caregivers
- Address the disproportionate challenges parents face due to limited childcare and school settings
- Empower children to choose their ‘provider of choice’ and access necessary care services

Building Together:
Solidarity Campaigns for Washington’s 2025 Legislative Agenda
Rebalance our tax code to fund critical services and make the wealthy pay their fair share
Washington remains one of the most regressive and upside-down tax systems in the country. With an enormous budget deficit, the legislature must pass new progressive taxes on big corporations and individual millionaires and billionaires to prevent cuts and fund critical programs and services. Many smart progressive policies raise revenue including but not limited to:
- Progressive high earners payroll tax on employers
- Affordable Homes Act (“REET 2.0”): Real estate excise tax (REET) is a tax on the sale of real property.
- Property tax on stock and asset portfolios exceeding $250M (“Wealth Tax”): A 1% tax on financial assets like stocks and bonds owned by multi-millionaires and billionaires.
- B&O surcharge*** on corporations doing over $1B in business: The Business and Occupation (B&O) tax is a gross receipts tax based on a company’s revenue rather than profits.
- Increasing or expanding capital gains tax to align with other states’ programs: Washington’s current 7% capital gains tax applies to profits from the sale of long-term assets like stocks, bonds, and business interests.
Rent Stabilization, Affordable Housing and Tenant Protections
HB 1217 | SB 5222
Lawmakers need to support policies that protect renters against extreme rent increases and late fees and invest in more affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and rental assistance. Caregivers, our families, and the seniors and people with disabilities who we serve all deserve to live in safe, healthy, and affordable homes in thriving communities. Housing costs are affecting every corner of our state, and bold, comprehensive action is needed this year. We support investments and policies that:
- Prevent abusive and extreme rent increases and cap annual rent increases
- Provide stronger protections for renters, including eviction prevention, safeguards against no-cause evictions, requirements for landlords to provide 6 months’ notice of significant rent increases, tenants’ right to terminate fixed-term leases due to the rent increase, and caps on late fees
- Invest in the Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve affordable homes, increase investments in homelessness prevention, cash assistance, and rental assistance
Working Families Tax Credit Expansion
HB 1214
Under current Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) statute, households without a qualifying child are subject to an age restriction. People without dependents must be at least 25 and under the age of 65 to claim the WFTC, which means that most young adult workers and working seniors are excluded from our state tax credit. This age restriction is embedded in the federal Earned Income Tax Credit from which the WFTC is based.
We urge the Legislature to expand the age range so that all filers 18-24 can access the WFTC, ensuring that young adult workers are fully included in the eligibility for the credit. This would add 97,500 more Washington households, reaching more young adults living on low-incomes, and increasing the number of eligible households by nearly 30%. We are hopeful that the Legislature will also expand the credit to working seniors in a future session.
We also support efforts to promote data sharing between state agencies that will enable greater uptake of credit.
Fairness in Unemployment Benefits
Unemployment Insurance for striking workers (SB 5041): More than 1 in 4 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, per a 2024 Forbes survey. Rather than negotiate a fair contract, some employers weaponize this economic instability to force a strike.
Washington should join New York, New Jersey and Maine in allowing workers to access unemployment insurance after more than two weeks on strike to help level the playing field, discourage economic hardship as a bargaining strategy, and promote good-faith contract negotiations.
Unemployment Insurance regardless of immigration status (SB 5026 | HB 1773): 240,000 people live and work in Washington state without federal immigration status. Undocumented workers comprise 5% of our total workforce and pay over a billion dollars in state and federal taxes every year. However, undocumented workers are excluded from receiving the unemployment benefits that keep other workers afloat between jobs.
Washington can do better. Expanding unemployment insurance to include undocumented workers is about honoring the worth of every worker, irrespective of our immigration status, and ensuring our access to crucial support in times of uncertainty. Passing this bill reinforces our state’s commitment to equity by rectifying the exclusion of undocumented workers from the safety nets we contribute towards.
Police accountability to enhance community safety and trust
Reducing police violence and increasing police accountability makes all our communities safer and stronger, supports deeper community connection and promotes basic human rights. We support the WA Coalition for Police Accountability’s 2025 police accountability priorities, including traffic safety for all, Independent Prosecution, and AG Investigations and Reform.
Climate justice including energy assistance for people in need
We are committed to supporting priorities from our partners at organizations like Front and Centered and BlueGreen Alliance that advance climate justice and a just transition in Washington. We also support efforts to improve energy assistance programs, because everyone should have access to a reliable, safe, and affordable energy source.
$25 Minimum Wage and Paid Vacation and Bereavement leave
$25 minimum wage: Raising the minimum wage protects the economic security of workers and boosts local economies. Inflation has reduced the purchasing power of wages since 2020. Adjusted for inflation, $15 in 2012 is equivalent to $20 in 2023. Without legislative change, Washington’s minimum wage won’t reach $20 until at least 2030.
Economic benefits: Higher wages reduce turnover and increase productivity, benefiting employers. Workers with higher wages can spend more at local businesses, supporting economic growth.
Paid vacation: 79% of U.S. private-sector workers have paid vacation, but the lowest-paid workers are the least likely to have access. Only 55% of service workers and 40% of part-time workers have paid vacation, compared to 92% of management and professional workers.
Paid bereavement leave: Many workers lack paid leave during critical life moments. It’s time to ensure workers have access to paid vacation and bereavement leave, safeguarding their well-being while supporting their families during tough times.
Closing the Job Protection Loophole in Paid Family & Medical Leave
Under current state law, half of Washington workers – who are required to pay into the Paid Family & Medical Leave Program – are unable to take paid leave without risking their job. Accessing paid leave could not only result in being fired but also in losing access to healthcare at a time when they or their family are seriously ill. Recent research from the University of Washington has found that women, workers of color, and workers without postsecondary degrees are much less likely to qualify for job protected leave.
We support legislation to expand job protection to all workers taking leave who have been at their place of employment for at least 90 calendar days. The bill would also reduce the threshold for applying from 8 hours of missed work to 4 hours.